What makes a sound effect bad?

Note- This comes from my game audio blog at gamenotes.org. I like to bring relevant articles here from time to time for the GG community to get some use out of.

Does this sound familiar, developers? You've received all the sound effects from your sound designer and you've gotten them all incorporated in your game. Most are decent and unoffensive, but a few of them are rubbing you the wrong way. Your sound designer seemed to have followed your instructions, but you know some changes are going to have to be made. But what changes? Here's a little guide to help you identify some problems with sounds that you may not have had to think about before.

So what makes a sound effect bad? It only takes one of the following issues to ruin a sound.

- Low quality audio: There may be fuzz in the background of the sound file. Maybe there's a hiss or it sounds muffled. Maybe the beginning starts too abruptly or the end ends too soon. There could be a click somewhere in the file which you may not notice with only one listen, but put it on repeat and you're sure to notice it. Perhaps the sound was recorded too hot and clips, a definite no-no. With today's digital recording and digital editing, there is so excuse for anything less than pristine audio quality. Demand it.

- Too much treble (or bass): The problem here is usually too much high frequency, so I'll talk about that first. Nothing will make a sound become more annoying than having too much treble. It can actually cause some physical discomfort. Many amateur sound designers will have way too much high frequency in their mix, thinking it adds some punch or crispness to the sound. Actually, they're distorting the sound giving an unnatural sheen to it that will sooner or later tire the listener. The other side of this, too much bass, can muddy an otherwise decent sound and make it unnoticeable within your game. It can also wreak havoc on the player's subwoofer. A good EQ balance is needed to help achieve a natural sound.

- Inappropriate sound for the event: Ok, you may have goofed on this one. Are you sure you're asking for the right sounds? Maybe a baby crying isn't the right sound for a lawn mower (an extreme example, sorry). But it could be more subtle than that... and really not your fault. Maybe the pigeon sound your sound designer provided you is actually a crow or that wood door slam sounds suspiciously like a steel door slam. Let's say you have a sweet new FPS game that takes place in the 1600's. The footsteps aren't going to sound like squeaky rubber-soled sneakers (which were first used in the late 1800's... random fact of the day). You may not know that right off the bat, but subconsciously you know it isn't right. If it sounds like it doesn't fit, it probably doesn't.

- Outside the game's soundscape: Your game should have an overall sound "feel"... its soundscape. Are the sounds generally organic, artificial, watery, etc? There should be a consistency to the sound effects just like there should be a consistency to the music. Going back to our 1600's FPS, those sounds should be sturdy and real. A sudden pinball bell isn't going to fit in that soundscape. Once you have a soundscape envisioned for your game, this becomes a subset of the previous "inappropriate" problem, but it still deserves its own mention.

- Bland: Yawn, we've heard that gem sound a thousand times before. Give us something a little more interesting. Not every sound has to be awe-inspiring, but it's important not to have blandness be the major feature of the important sound effects. A good sound designer should wow you with something that fits the overall vision of your game and is a joy to listen to again and again. One sound effect that always jumps to mind as an example of this is the Bookworm word munch sound. They definitely got that right. There's no reason why every game can't have at least one sound that's that satisfying and idiosyncratic.

One final issue with sound effects is that as the number of times a sound is going to be played increases, the tolerance for these problems significantly decreases. Considering this, you may want to consider multiple sounds for an event that's going to be played often, like footsteps or puzzle piece dropping. No matter how good a sound is, if it's played too often it's going to get old.

Also keep in mind, maybe a particular ambient sound doesn't have to be played as often as you currently have it playing. I'm working on a game now that takes place partly in a snake cage room. The snake hisses were playing far too frequently so they reduced its frequency by 50%. The level suddenly became much more fun and tense, both things that we're going for. This is a common problem right now in games. Don't be afraid to cut back a little. Less is often indeed more.

These aren't the only problems you may find with sound effects, but they're definitely some of the biggest. This list should help you identify problems you may not have been able to quite put your finger on as you work with your sound designer. You don't have to tell them to fix the high frequency problem by "dropping the high frequency shelf 4dB at 9000 Hz", but it's good to have a general idea what's bothering you.

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